What are the supplements you TRULY believe in?

My very favorites are:
Gingko Biloba - improves memory and circulation to the brain - reducing head pressure (hypoperfusion?) for me.
Magnesium Malate - reduces wired feelings, overexcitablity by promoting gaba in the NMDA receptors; took away sciatica, reduces muscle fatigue (the malate form of magnesium)
Carlsons ACES + Zinc with NuMedica Mineralplex - increase in energy - noticed a huge breakthrough in my energy levels when I took these items.
Hawthorn - reduces chest pain and heart palpitations to zero when I take it consistently.
Zeolite - soaks up ammonia reducing the mental herx symptoms for me.
Hot Bath with Epsom (Magnesium) Salts - soooo relaxing.

I only ever added in one supplement at a time and usually waited 2 weeks to a month before adding in anything else to see what the effect of the supplement was. The ones above I have found to be the most helpful of all.

I also take hydroxy b-12, a multivitamin with methylfolate as well as nattokinase for my MTHFR double mutation.

Post Edited (SLML) : 2/21/2015 12:43:55 AM (GMT-7)

For me the staple supplements are the curcumin (Meriva-500), a good multi vitamin, probiotics (I mix and match but one high in acidophilus is best), sachromyces boulardii I also take for my intestinal tract.

I think those are my absolute essentials for me. But I take other stuff like transfer factors and proteolytic enzymes too.

In general, I think almost everyone would benefit from taking:
*ALA (alpha lipoic acid) - a precursor to glutithione. (detoxing)
*Turmeric or curcumin (the active ingredient of turmeric)(inflammation - Lyme is an inflammatory infection)
*Vitamin E (antioxidant)
*Vitamin C (antioxidant)
*Green tea (antioxidant & fights Babesia)
*Methylcobalamin (methyl type of B-12) (nerve health)

Those with low adrenal function or low thyroid function need to support them either with herbs or with natural medicines. I used some type of thyroid and adrenal support each time I have had to heal from these infections.

Then there are the ones that are needed by only some of us. Those that are low in vitamin D should be taking a high quality product.

A good multi vitamin and multi mineral supplement is necessary as well.

Personally, I couldn't survive without my magnesium either. With muscle twitches and more to deal with when I'm infected, yeah, well you get the idea!! LOL! I'm not a happy camper if I don't have my magnesium! And it helps a lot with constipation issues.

And ginger. That's another one I just can't do without! Many people that have symptoms of indigestion actually have LOW stomach acid, as I do, so to improve your digestion and to lower the amount of indigestion that you have, use more ginger! I LOVE the sugared ginger slices a bit too much, so I stick with the ginger capsules and ginger tea.

Last, but never least - probiotics!!! We need a LOT of probiotics while we are in treatment - whether we are using herbs or pharmaceutical abx to treat these infections. It's critical for keeping candida at bay!!

@Mister Mike

COMT mutations produce excess methyl groups and people who have these mutations tend to have a higher fight-or-flight (parasympathetic) responses due to being overmethylated by having these excess methyl groups in their bodies.

Depending on VDR (vitamin D receptor) mutations in combination with COMT mutations, doctors have come up with a formula to determine what form of b-12 to give a patient based on their genetic methylation profile. With these mutations, I believe it is recommended to take b-12 for some time before taking the 5-mthf.

Initially, my doctor ordered the MTHFR mutation from Labcorp and told me I had a double mutation and told me the supplement (5-mthf) to take. I took it and with an hour had severe muscle aches that were quite painful and thought - if this supplement is exactly what I need based on my genetics then why do I feel this way?

That led me to reseach a little deeper and I decided to do the 23andme test. There I found that I had COMT +/- mutations as well as VDR and a MTRR (b-12) mutation and based on Heartfixer and Yasko it was recommended that I take hyroxy b-12 BEFORE I took the methyl folate (5mthf) in order to mop up the excess methyl groups that I had. After taking this for a week or so I added in the methyl-folate at a very low dose and have been doing quite well with it. I believe with these mutations it is recommended to stock up on b-12 before starting the 5-mthf.

Bottom line - it just is helpful to know if you have excess methyl groups swimming around because if so - methyl b-12 and methyl folate can be hard for the body to tolerate and the hydroxy form of b-12 mops up excess methyl in order for the body to be able to tolerate the methly-folate which has to be taken in the methyl form in order to override the MTHFR mutation.

The links in my 2nd post are great for delving into this information and explain it better than I can.

All the best!

@ Georgia Hunter

Good reminder - looking into that form. I kind of stopped the bus so to speak because the hydroxy form of b-12 worked for me but will look into that form. Thanks for the reminder.

Very true that supplements have a very individual aspect to them because we all have different genetics and a different constellation of infections. I took the Metametrix ION test which helped to guide which nutrients my body was using up to fight the constellation of infections that I was fighting (Lyme, Bartonella, Babesia, etc). The test is quite expensive (ugh!) but was helpful.